Some Hospital Part-Time Employees To Lose Health Benefits

Part-time employees of Stony Brook Southampton Hospital who are not members of the employee union have been notified that, as of January 1, 2025, they will no longer have the option of being covered by the hospital’s health insurance plan.

The change was announced last month by Staffco of Brooklyn, which handles payroll and human resources services, including the payment of wages and administration of employee benefits for the hospital.

The hospital declined to make a staff member available for an interview but issued a statement it said could be attributed to Staffco officials: “Unfortunately, the escalating costs of employer-sponsored health care insurance prompted difficult decisions regarding the 2025 coverage offered to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital employees,” it stated. “In order to preserve the high level of benefits for most of the staff, while trying to limit the increase in health insurance expense, it unfortunately was necessary to raise the part-time employee participation level to 30 hours per week.”

The company noted that requiring employees to work at least 30 hours a week is “consistent with industry standards.”

Previously, employees could qualify for some level of insurance coverage if they worked as little as 15 hours a week.

The hospital did not say how many employees would be affected by the change in policy, but in its statement, Staffco said it had been “able to preserve benefits for the vast majority of staff.” It added that it was “exploring the possibility of converting a number of these positions to 30 or more hours per week so the employees can continue coverage, if it is feasible to do so.”

Dominique Roberts, a representative of United Healthcare Workers East, the hospital’s union, said the change in policy did not apply to union employees, who are still eligible for health care benefits based on a sliding wage scale.

She said that the employees who are typically not union members would include those who hold management or administrative positions.

Staffco has contracted with the hospital since 2017, when Southampton Hospital merged with Stony Brook University Hospital.